Build an Understanding of Fundamental Plant Biochemistry

This course will start you on your way
with a sound foundation in plant biochemistry. While focusing on plants,
much of the content is applicable to both plants and animals.

Chemical reactions are at the heart of everything that happens in a plant; from the germinating of seeds and the growth of tissues, to the production of flowers and fruit. Understanding these chemical reactions will give you a unique insight into how plants can be used and managed.

A Problem Based Approach for learning in this course, makes the educational experience practical and applied, helping you to understand, absorb and retain your new knowledge.

Student Comment: 'Having not finished high school myself and never studied biochemistry my confidence is a little low but the encouragement I am receiving from Honor [tutor] is a tremendous help and making it easier for me as I go. [The course] is helping me realise what I am actually capable of and that I am smarter than I thought. Thank you for making it possible for me to study my passion while still being able to work.' Melissa Smith, Australia, Biochemistry I.

Prerequisite: Some secondary school chemistry will be helpful though it is not essential.

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

Introduction

Lipids and proteins

Enzymes

Nitrogen and the nitrogen cycle

Photosynthesis and respiration

Assimilation and transpiration

Acidity and alkalinity

Chemical analysis

Biochemical applications

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

Identify characteristics of common chemical compounds important in plant biochemistry.

Explain the characteristics of major biochemical groups including; carbohydrates, lipids and proteins.

Explain the characteristics of chemicals which control biological processes, including enzymes and hormones.

Identify the role of nitrogen in plant biological processes, including the nitrogen cycle.

Explain the practical applications of various analytical techniques including:

chromatography (TLC, GC)

colorimetry

atomic absorption

Determine the value of analytical techniques used in industry including:

efficiency

accuracy

ease of use

Differentiate between chemical toxicity and tolerance.

Explain the implications of LD50 characteristics with five different chemical substances.

Explain the implications of half-life characteristics with five different chemical substances.

List the active toxins in ten poisonous plants which commonly occur in your home locality.

Explain the effects of two naturally occurring toxins on the human body.

Explain the function and use of two different plants as medicines for humans or animals.

Determine three different applications for plant tissue culture.

What is Biochemistry?

Biochemistry is the chemistry of living organisms. An organism is anything that is alive, or if not, was once alive (a "dead" organism"). What, then, is the condition we call life? We cannot offer a rigid, precise definition, but we do know that living things are characterised by metabolism, growth, and reproduction. Metabolism is the process by which a body introduces into itself ("ingests") various energy rich materials from its environment ("food"), and transforms these materials, with the release of energy, into other substances, some of which are retained by the body ("growth" or "repair") and some eliminated. Reproduction is the process by which one body produces another that is like itself in properties, structure, composition, and function, including metabolism and reproduction.

The distinction between an organism and a material is not always clear. A virus consists of particles several hundred Angstrom units in length or diameter; these particles can reproduce themselves in a suitable environment but they do not ingest food, or grow, or carry on any other metabolic processes. Are viruses, then, living organisms, or are they chemical materials that consist of large molecules capable of replicating themselves under suitable conditions? To include viruses among the living, the definition of life must be modified. Most broadly, we may consider anything living if it can bring order out of disorder at the expense of energy and has the capability to preserve accidental variations (called mutations) that may occur in the process.

In an organism, the structure called the cell may be considered to be a biochemical reactor. An organism consists of one or more cells, and the various groups of cells in a multi cellular organism may be sharply differentiated in their biochemical function. The reactions in the cell are said to occur in vivo (Latin, "in the living organism"); the corresponding reactions outside of the cell are said to occur in vitro (Latin, "in glass). The living cell is not merely a tiny membranous beaker with homogeneous contents. It is, rather, entity of great complexity, not yet completely understood as to structure and function. There are specific sites within the cell at which specific reacting systems, metabolic or reproductive, operate. The biochemist seeks to identify these sites, and to illuminate the course and mechanism of the reactions that occur there. Sometimes he tries to remove a chemically reacting system from its cellular environment and duplicate it in vitro. He does this because reactions are usually easier to study under the more controllable conditions of laboratory reactors than they are in vivo.

Biochemical Process in the Cell

Several anatomical features are so small that they can be revealed only with the aid of an electron microscope. Some of these fine structures of the cell are non-essential inclusions, like blobs of fat, or particles of starch. Others called organelles, perform essential functions and are reproduced when the cell divides. Some of these functions are well known; others still elude us.

The mitochondria are organelles shaped like elongated slippers; their cross sectional diameters are about 1 micron. The highly differentiated structure of a mitochondrion contains some 40 enzymes, which control a complex series of redox reactions, including the conversion of diverse organic substances into ATP. The energy reservoir that is thus stored up is available for biomechanical work such as muscle contraction, for electrical work like the action of nerve impulses, and for the activation of other biochemical reactions. Because of these functions, the mitochondria have been called, by an analogy that not all mechanical engineers would accept, the "furnace of the cell".

Chloroplasts are organelles that occur in plant cells and that contain the green pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the catalyst for the endothermic process of photosynthesis, in which glucose is synthesized from carbon dioxide.

The nucleus is a well defined structure which contains the genetic material of the cell; the nucleus thus is the site of the reproductive function. Each time a cell divides, it reconstitutes itself. The ability of self duplication is retained by the new cells and is transmitted repeatedly through successive generations of cells. The reliability of this transmittal accounts for the continuity of species.

Where Can This Course Take Me?

To further study in biochemistry.

As a prerequisite to gain entry into higher education.

To give you a sound understanding of the biochemical processes in plants - useful for those working in research, in hydroponics, in protected plant culture etc.

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